A new version of the game development engine (and not only), Unity 5.4, has been released from beta to gold.
Among the main innovations:
- improved multithreaded rendering of scenes (they say it can significantly improve the performance of scenes);
- reducing the required number of commands to the graphics API for drawing objects on the screen (reducing the number of draw calls) by cloning objects using the GPU (fewer commands, less load, better performance);
- new tools for working with particles (you can change their properties independently of each other);
- the release of a set of Cinematic Image Effects (with sources for it) on the Asset Store, as well as the introduction of motion vector support, which will help in creating post-effects, like motion blur;
- Out-of-the-box support for OpenVR (SteamVR/HTC Vive), Oculus Rift, Gear VR and Playstation VR;
- full integration of Unity Performance Reporting, which collects error information, into the engine editor;
- a new analytics interface, as well as the addition of the expected “click maps” feature inside the game;
- implementation of Amazon Appstore support in Unity IAP.
The full list of innovations can be found on the Unity website. By the way, very soon the developers promise a beta of the new version of the engine – Unity 5.5.